Will The World Buy Another $1,000 Smartphone?

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.
Will The World Buy Another $1,000 Smartphone?

© Kritchanut / Getty Images

The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone X can cost as much as $1,149. Apple’s sales of its highest-end phone have been brisk, according to outside analysts. And it creates mammoth margins for the company. Rumors are that Apple will launch an upgraded version of the phone and a second one with a larger screen. Once again, Apple is up against the hurdle of how much money people will pay for a new Apple product, as well as how large will the buyer base be.

Among the advantages Apple has is that carriers will basically underwrite the cost of the phone if people take two-year wireless subscriptions. This walks back the price of the iPhone X to between $50 and $55 a month. For the millions of people who own a new iPhone X that is less than a year old, a commitment for a new one may be too much to carry.

Most new versions of iPhones get better processors and better cameras. Since almost all consumers have “good enough” cameras and processors for their needs, the purchase of a new phone could indeed be too much to ask. The iPhone X versions likely to be released are two models: one with the standard 5.8-inch screen and the other with a 6.1-inch screen. Apple is gambling that some people want larger phones. At some point, they will be large enough to qualify as tablet PCs.

[nativounit]

iPhone sales and sales momentum are the measures most used often by investors who follow Apple’s share price. Right now, that price is $218, up 35% in the past year. The stock is so high that it would not take much skepticism to trim that run-up.

Apple sells iPhones on the presumption that the new phone is better than the older ones. That is Apple’s gamble again with the new models. At some point, consumers will tire of the modest improvement in features tied to higher prices. Apple won’t be able to hold sales if that happens, and it will.

[recirclink id=491476]

[wallst_email_signup]

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618